


Under the Milky Way Tonight

by Tish



Category: Contact - Carl Sagan
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-22
Updated: 2014-12-22
Packaged: 2018-03-02 20:02:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2824442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tish/pseuds/Tish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Exploring the universe, side by side.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Under the Milky Way Tonight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [s_k](https://archiveofourown.org/users/s_k/gifts).



“There's a star out there that has a black hole for a companion. The star is slowly being eaten alive by the black hole. Ribbons of star-stuff are slowly unwinding from its surface and being drawn into the hole, like spaghetti down a sink.” Ellie lifted her hand to the starry sky, her fingers dancing around the pin-points of light.

“What happens to that spaghetti star-stuff, once it gets eaten?” Palmer turned from the sky to watch her face, the hammock slowly rocking them to and fro.

“Nobody knows. Not yet. Maybe not ever. It might burst out into another part of the universe, or even a totally different universe. Maybe an antimatter universe where time flows backwards, causality's arrow is reversed.” Ellie's eyes shone with delight at the endless possibilities. 

“So, it gets turned from matter, into _doesn't_ matter?” Palmer deadpanned, a smile growing on his face as Ellie groaned, then chuckled.

 

“A long time ago, there were five blind men. One day, they encountered an elephant for the first time. The elephant guide let them touch the elephant, just so they could get an idea of what a wondrous beast they had before them. The first found his trunk, and exclaimed that it was a snake-like creature.” Palmer paused, tracing a finger along the curve of his own ear. “The second found his ear, for he was a very tall man, and he cried out that it was like a giant fan. The third was a very short man and could only grasp a leg. He declared that an elephant was like a tree. The fourth patted the side of the elephant and determined that it was like a wall. The fifth grasped the tail and decided, no, this animal is like a rope.” He gently grasped her hair, twisting it into a small rope-like plait. “We both approach the same question of the mysteries and glory of the universe as these blind men once did.” Palmer turned back to looking up at the stars, gazing at the light that took dozens, thousands or more years to reach them.

 

“Sky stories, we've always looked up and wanted to tell each other about the adventures the night sky tells. A group of stars becomes a bear, a plough, or a wagon to one civilisation. To another, it's a bull's leg. For another, it's a chariot. Australian Aboriginals saw an emu in the blackness of the Coalsack Nebula and the dark clouds along the Milky Way. For centuries, we have looked to the skies for our stories, to know when to prepare for feasts or flood. Soon, we'll go out, beyond our solar system. Dinky little robots are dipping their toes into the cosmic seas, turning to take one last picture of home. They'll make their own stories, maybe a distant generation will catch up to them, see what they have to say.” Ellie found herself yearning to be out there, wishing for a twin hammock capable of interstellar travel. She rolled over slightly, and settled again next to Palmer's shoulder. She felt her own heart beat and listened as the soft breeze stirred the trees. 

 

For a moment she closed her eyes and felt their pale blue dot turn as it travelled along its orbit around the sun, the solar system edging slowly up and down the galactic plane, as the Virgo Cluster fell towards the unknowable future, either of heat death in infinite expansion or deflation back to singularity, then another Big Bang and another universe full of wonder and joy, of terror and hatred, of life and death.

She opened them again to the magnificence above and smiled, her heart full with love.


End file.
